Intraocular lens (IOL) implants generally are implanted in the capsular bag and held in place by haptics. The haptics may be wires or plate haptics. With time, fibrous tissue may form around the haptics, further anchoring the IOL in place.
An IOL may be implanted in a human eye during cataract surgery as a replacement for the opacified natural lens. IOLs have also been developed for other eye diseases or disorders, such as macular degeneration. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,354,335; 5,391,202; 5,814,103; 5,876,422; 5,928,283; 6,007,579; and 6,066,171, all assigned to Visioncare Ltd., Yehud, Israel, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, describe telescopic IOLs. The telescopic intraocular inserts may comprise a positive (converging) lens facing the anterior side of the eye and a negative (diverging) lens facing the posterior side, the two lenses forming a Galilean telescopic system. Alternatively, the inserts may comprise a reverse Galilean telescopic system.
Sometimes it may be desirable to remove an IOL already implanted in the eye, and replace it with another IOL. For example, patients, who already have a regular IOL implanted in the eye, may develop macular degeneration. In such a case, it would be desirable to remove the existing IOL and replace it with a telescopic IOL. However, the anchoring of the haptic with fibrous tissue may make it very difficult or impossible to remove the first IOL without tearing or causing damage to adjacent tissues in the eye.